


Joy

by evisionarts



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-25
Updated: 2014-01-25
Packaged: 2018-01-09 23:24:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1152053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evisionarts/pseuds/evisionarts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joy shifted and sighed, clutching her toy closer as whispered words spilled from her lips. River was drawn to the sounds, leaning in to try and catch them, feeling that she could decipher their meaning if only she could get close enough. She slipped from the Doctor’s grasp and laid both hands atop the child’s so that she was holding the toy along with her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Joy

River pushed her way through the murmuring crowd, creating space where none should exist. People automatically shifted and flowed around her, as if sensing it best to keep a certain distance. Though it was late morning the sky was blank and dark. The streetlights flickered rhythmically as the electricity supplying them ebbed and flowed.

River hurried past burnt out buildings and dirty shop windows covered with peeling sheets of paper ordering her to “repent - the end was near”, and offering invitations to both religious services and lavish parties. She paused at a pawn shop display of battered electronics, standing apart from a group listening to the latest newscast spewing from a grainy monitor. 

The woman reading the news was heavily made-up, with bleached hair, a false tan and glaringly white teeth. Her smile was bright as she related government assurances that “everything possible was being done, it was only a matter of time and there was no need to worry”. She quickly skimmed over an account of the bombing of a train station before smoothly segueing into the tale of a local man who set a record for eating an impressive number of pies when abruptly the signal was lost. Everyone groaned as they were left staring at a blank screen.

A cold wind blew and River shivered, turning up the collar of her jacket and burying her nose in the cloth as she turned and picked her way across a potholed street. Her well-worn boots came to rest against a dull concrete stoop and she looked up at the underlit entrance to a long, low building of crumbling cinderblock. Someone had spray painted the words “this is not an exit” above the cracked glass doors. As she pushed her way inside the sharp smell of human misery combined with disinfectant assaulted her nostrils. She briefly wrapped her arms around herself then forced them back to her sides.

Reaching for the scanner she kept in the pocket of her heavy, white jacket, she pulled up a map of the hospital layout searching for the room number she was given. Upon finding it she fixed the way in her mind and carelessly tossed the piece of equipment back into its accustomed place. She strode purposefully down a maze of shabby corridors. The light in the halls was dim, and while the place was clean it did not hide the peeling paint or cracked floor.

Upon reaching her destination she paused in the room’s doorway. Bitter fragments of memory pulled at her. She swallowed rising bile at the sight of a frail figure lying upon a rickety metal bed.  

“What child is this?” River whispered, rubbing her hands together to warm them. 

The room was small, the walls a particularly ugly shade of institutional green. A girl with limp coal black hair and a gaunt oval face with olive skin moved restlessly beneath a drab and faded blue blanket. Her tiny hand clutched a threadbare toy so ancient its original shape was no longer discernible.  Her eyes were closed and her pale lips murmured disjointed words River could not understand.

She couldn’t remember the last time she had encountered a language completely unknown to her. She wasn’t sure it had ever happened before. She knew it wasn’t gibberish, it sounded too regular for that. 

River moved closer, laying a cool palm against the flushed cheek. She bent her head, her wild curls hiding the girl’s face as she whispered soothingly into her ear. The agitated child calmed under her touch, sighing deeply and hugging her toy closer to her chest.

A hesitant throat cleared. A tall sad-faced young woman with clear gray eyes and messy, thinning blond hair stood in the corner of the room, returning a clipboard containing a thick sheaf of papers to a receptacle in the wall. She waved weakly.

“Hello,” River said as she straightened and brushed back an errant lock of gold, “I’m River Song.”

She eyed the tag pinned to the woman’s frayed white coat.

“And you are Lylla Petra, the person who called. Does the child have a name?” she asked softly.

“I – well no, not officially,” Lylla replied, her large hands nervously tugging at the bottom of a flowery smock that was a bit too small, "I found her myself, she had no identification.”

Lylla turned her head away in shame. “She was lying curled up against a curb all alone and people just walked past her.” 

She bent over the sleeping child, gently brushing back the hair from her forehead.

“I know it’s getting dark,” Lylla whispered sadly, her breathing sounding loud and harsh as it mixed with the low hum of hospital machinery, “but we can’t stop caring – she’s only a child!”

“What should I call her?” River asked, observing Lylla speculatively as she hovered over the girl.

“The hospital assigned her a number, I guess they couldn’t see the point of a name,” Lylla replied, hurriedly swiping at watery eyes, “maybe they were right - she’s never awake to hear me.” 

 “And yet you gave her one anyway?” River fixed her with a knowing gaze.

“Oh, well, sort of, yes.” Lylla looked startled, "The other med techs laughed at me, but I had to call her something.”

“She’s a person, not a thing, Ms. Song.” Lylla’s anxious gray eyes turned fierce. "I call her Joy.”

River considered Lylla for a moment then nodded. "Hello, Joy.”

Placing her hand over the child’s, River brushed against the patchy fur of the ragged toy. She was surprised to feel a prickly tingle, as if an electrical current buzzed against her skin.

“Where did this come from?” she asked, tugging lightly at the stained and lumpy thing.

Joy gasped, her back arching, as River hastily pulled her hand away.

Alarms beeped loudly and then abruptly shut off as the girl calmed and settled back upon the bed.

“It’s ok, I should have warned you,” Lylla said apologetically as she waved off another med tech peeking through the doorway, “that happens every time any of us try to take away her toy. It’s like they’re connected somehow.”

River thoughtfully considered Joy, reaching into the pocket of her jacket and pulling out her scanner. She frowned as she tried to make sense of the confused readings. They showed a humanoid female with no signs of injury or illness. Sensors indicated a recent seizure event, as if pulling at the old toy had caused a sudden surge of electrical activity in the brain.

River eyed Lylla curiously. “Why did the hospital ask me to come in?”

Lylla threw her a guilty look. “Well that was me actually. If the administration knew they wouldn’t like it, but I’m desperate enough to try anything.” 

“I have some friends at the university and one of the professors there recommended you,” she explained, "I know you’re on student exchange and this isn’t your field of expertise, Ms. Song, but they said you had an – unusual – mind.”

River lifted an eyebrow at that. 

“I’m not a Doctor,” she said, “I’m an archeology student. I’m simply here as a cultural observer.”

Lylla looked at her pleadingly.

River sighed. “I’ll help in any way I can,” she assured the anxious woman.

She turned back to the achingly vulnerable figure lying on the narrow bed and watched childish lips form strange words. She could almost discern a familiar pattern but something wasn’t quite right, as if she were witnessing a long disused dialect of an ancient language she barely remembered learning. “How long has she been here?” 

“Three months,” Lylla answered, picking at the threads at the hem of her smock fretfully, “with no change. She’s a ward of the state and they’ve ordered us to move her to a long-term facility.”

“Those places only exist to hide our failures.” Lylla’s voice caught as she clenched the fabric of her worn cotton trousers in her fists.

She raised imploring eyes to River’s. “She’ll never wake up there.”

“I’m here on exchange,” River reiterated, “I shouldn’t interfere in government affairs.”

“I understand but please do what you can,” Lylla sighed regretfully as she stepped toward the door, “I have other patients I must see to, Ms. Song.” 

“I hope you don’t mind,” she said quickly, afraid River might protest, “I’ve told my colleagues you’re a visiting professor brought in to consult. Please don’t stay too long – the shift will change soon and the new people might start asking questions.”

She stopped for a moment, her hand gripping the frame of the doorway as her knuckles turned white. “Please - please help her.”

Lylla walked down the hall without looking back.

Joy breathed a long sigh, lips twitching with lost words as River looked down upon her pale, young face. 

She wasn’t used to caring much, or at all, about other people, especially ones she didn’t know. But something about this child touched her and she found it impossible to ignore a growing need to somehow help her.

She hesitantly brought a hand to hover over the thin fingers that clutched the lumpy toy then took a deep breath and placed her small palm over the girl’s cool skin and grasped the toy along with her. She placed her other hand against the child’s cheek and lowered some of the barriers she kept tight around her thoughts.

“Can you hear me?” River whispered through the cracks in her mind.

The child gasped and sat up abruptly, her eyes opening wide and her free hand pressing against the side of River’s face. River stiffened as she felt herself caught, trapped in an icy blue radiance that poured from Joy’s gaze and completely enveloped them both. Slowly the light faded and seeped into the hospital room walls leaving them glowing faintly. 

River glanced down at Joy who once again reclined upon the bed. Her body was completely wrapped in shining gold bandages.  It reminded River of ancient Egyptian mummies from old Earth and she immediately began searching her memory for every culture she knew that used similar techniques of preserving their dead.

“Who are you?” An irritated voice boomed across the room.

River started as dull, sickly green walls bled back into her field of vision.

Joy lay underneath her thin blanket, exactly as before.

A slightly disheveled, round figure in an ill-fitting white coat emerged from a door on the other side of the bed.

River gazed at the intruder calmly, her lips curling into a dangerous smile. The man took a step back.

“Dr. River Song – I’m a visiting Professor from the University,” she replied, smoothly slipping into the persona Lylla had chosen for her, “here to consult on the patient. And you are …?”

“I’ve never heard of you.” The man stated with an accusatory glare as he nervously adjusted his lapels.

“Yes,” River spoke patiently, as if to a child, “I’m visiting.”

The man frowned, rubbing his bald head and staring openly at the swell of River’s breasts as she leaned over the body of the unconscious child.

“May I help you?” River’s voice cut through the man’s thoughts like a razor-thin blade.

The man’s eyes widened as River rose gracefully to her feet and looked down upon him like a calculating and merciless creature sizing up its prey. Somehow her voluptuous body had gone taut and unyielding –threat evident in every subtle movement.

The man gulped, leaning back against the door and fumbling for the handle.

“I’m Dr. Fielding – um – I’m here to facilitate the move of this patient to a more appropriate facility …”

He paused at River’s cold and unwavering gaze. “I could come back.”

River smiled then looked up suddenly. She threw herself across the body of the child as the deafening sound of a building being ripped apart screamed through the air. She perched above the tiny figure in the bed, locking her muscles and remaining still as the room shook and groaned. Ceiling tiles rained down revealing sparking wiring and ductwork underneath. A heavy light fixture swung then fell upon her back, ripping through the clothing she wore and leaving her bruised and bleeding.  River remained in place, shunting the pain aside and concentrating on providing the maximum amount of coverage needed to protect the child.

In the corner Dr. Fielding whimpered, called out for his mother and then cut off abruptly.

There was a moment of silence as the rubble settled and noxious dust filled the air. Her hearing returned and River detected muffled cries and ominous creaking as the building continued to shift. She climbed off the bed, throwing aside the metal still hot against her back and ignoring the tearing of injured skin, blood vessels, muscles and tendons. She spared a few seconds for herself, consciously directing her body to slow the bleeding and begin repairs while she continued to mask the pain desperately trying to signal her brain. Her cells were already knitting themselves back together but even she could not heal instantly. 

She glanced over to the other side of the bed. Dr. Fielding lay slumped against the door, his fingers curled around the handle. A slab of cinderblock held him pinned in place and his eyes were wide and empty, an expression of surprise on his gray face.

The child had not stirred. 

River knelt beside the girl, gently removing the needles and tubing that sustained her fragile body. She gathered the thin figure into her arms, staggering at the strain upon her already taxed system but managing to make it to the door that led to the hall.

Grateful to find her way only partially blocked, she stumbled down the ruined corridor as frenzied people rushed past her. She barely registered someone appearing at her side, shoving away debris and pushing her through a door into a dirty alleyway. 

The center of her vision darkened and she stumbled, almost falling to her knees until strong hands caught her.  She struggled to hang on to consciousness as she felt someone lift Joy from her arms. 

“No!” she cried, flinging her fist out and connecting to something with a satisfying thud.

“Oof – River!” a familiar voice grumbled, “ow - stop!”

River shook her head in confusion, then everything turned gray and winked out.

***

She woke up fighting. She lay on her stomach and her nails were tearing at the fabric that lay beneath her. Turning her head she saw Joy laid out on a bed next to hers, still clutching her threadbare toy. 

The sound of a body shifting reached her ears and instantly River was on her knees, her hand reaching behind her ear for the blade she kept hidden there.

“You really should give it a little longer,” a low voice commented, “your back was a mess.”

River narrowed her eyes at the figure leaning insolently against the wall by the door. The long coat was gone and his sleeves were rolled up as he crossed his arms and tilted his head at her quizzically. 

River struggled to contain the energy from her spiking adrenaline, growling in frustration.

He pointed and River turned to find a beautifully crafted hand-carved target hanging on the door of a nearby cupboard. She let the blade fly, hitting her mark squarely in the center.

“Interesting place to find something like that,” River remarked as she jumped to her feet and leapt neatly off the bed, “I wonder who put it there?”

“Spoilers,” a hoarse voice replied.

“Hello, Sweetie,” River purred, stepping into the Doctor’s personal space and caressing his bow tie.

The Doctor swallowed. “Hello, um, River, you don’t have any clothes on.”

“Yes,” River agreed, “I wonder who took them off me.”

“You were injured!” the Doctor protested, his gaze dipping briefly then returning to her face with an obvious effort, “Anyway, you’ll find what you need in the cupboard, I’ll uh – just be off ….”

“Oh no you don’t.” River hooked her hand around his elbow and dragged him with her as she flung open the cupboard door to find a pair of lacy blue knickers, a matching bra, a vest, soft green jodhpurs, brown boots and her white jacket somehow restored. 

“Hmmm…” River hummed as she picked up the rather lovely bra and twirled it around her finger, “pick this out yourself?”

She watched fascinated as every part of the Doctor that wasn’t covered by clothing appeared to be blushing.

Bright, hazel eyes met hers and he shot her a crooked grin and shrugged unapologetically. Then he turned and walked over to stand and look down at Joy, taking the child’s free hand in his own.

“Who is she?” He asked, cocking his head to listen to the sound of River getting dressed behind him.

“No idea,” River answered as she came to stand next to him, hopping as she finished putting on her boots, “why are you here?”

The Doctor scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly.

“No idea,” he said, “I was on my way to the GLiX of Tinian’s Cluster – lovely hot springs there. You’re purple for days after, River!” he giggled.

River arched a brow and swept her gaze down his body as if imagining what he would look like completely covered in that particular hue. He shivered.

“And you Dr. Song?” the Doctor inquired, shaking his head as if to clear it, “Just when exactly are you?”

“Ooooh, I do actually graduate!” River purred, “How surprising!”

The Doctor winced. “Still a student then, eh? At Luna?”

River nodded, beaming up at him. “I’m here on exchange.”

The Doctor adjusted his tie nervously.

“Well, bit earlier than I thought,” he muttered, “I probably should have left the room when you were – um – yes, so, the child?”

“Her name is Joy,” River said gently, gazing down at the girl, a fleeting look of confusion and sadness crossing her lovely features. She was startled when the Doctor gripped her hand but she allowed his fingers to entwine with hers. She felt surprisingly calm standing next to him, as if he were her own personal anchor within the chaos.

Joy shifted and sighed, clutching her toy closer as whispered words spilled from her lips. River was drawn to the sounds, leaning in to try and catch them, feeling that she could decipher their meaning if only she could get close enough. She slipped from the Doctor’s grasp and laid both hands atop the child’s so that she was holding the toy along with her.

Joy’s eyes snapped open. Blue bled from them into the room and coated the walls as her body gleamed, wrapped in golden strips of cloth. The child arched her head back and looked up, her mouth falling open and leaking blue light. River followed her gaze, shocked to find the ceiling of the TARDIS no longer there leaving the room bared to a swirling cloud of inky darkness. The door was gone and the walls were moving - sliding forward and closing in on them. River frantically searched for a way out, but there was nowhere else to go except up. Hurriedly she gathered chairs and boxes and climbed atop her bed building a precarious tower. She climbed and climbed for what seemed like an eternity, finally coming close enough to pierce the darkness with a trembling finger - 

“River!”

She frowned, realizing someone had been calling her name for quite some time.

“River – please!” 

Something grabbed her leg and she tried to kick it away but it hung on tight, the warmth of it seeping through the fabric of her trousers into her skin. 

“Ssssh, it’s OK, I’ve got you, I’ve got you.”

River didn’t understand why she was crying. She closed her eyes and when she opened them she found herself standing tip toe on her bed, her body strained and reaching, her hands hard against the cool metal ceiling. The Doctor was clinging to her knees, his arms wrapped tight around her, his face looking up anxiously.

“I don’t –“River began, dazed as she looked around her. She shied away from the Doctor’s piercing gaze, focusing on the child lying on the bed next to her. The golden bandages were gone.

“Are you alright?” The Doctor asked, releasing his grip but keeping one hand against the back of her knee. 

River pulled away sharply, jumping from the bed as the Doctor eyed her with concern.

“I’m fine!” she said brightly, “I just – saw something.”

“River – “ the Doctor stepped forward but River backed away until she bumped into Joy’s bed, one hand reaching behind her to touch the child’s skin while the other was held in front of her, warding off the Doctor’s approach.

“River,” the Doctor said gently, stopping and placing his hands behind him,” you were scrabbling at the ceiling trying to dig your way out.”

“She feels trapped,” River told him, her voice so controlled it sounded fabricated, “she needs to break free but she doesn’t know how.”

The Doctor stared at her. “River, what did you do?”

“Touch telepathy,” River replied, her eyes challenging, “I’m quite good at it.”

“River – we don’t know who or what she is!” the Doctor said angrily, “that was stupidly dangerous!”

River’s full lips curled into a lazy smile. “I know.”

The Doctor paced the room, running his hands through his hair in an agitated manner. Suddenly he stopped and whirled, his face only inches from hers.

“You saw something,” he growled.

“What?” River’s tone was defiant as she stood her ground and fixed him with a cool stare.

“You said you saw something,” the Doctor repeated in a softer voice. 

He raised a finger and lightly stroked the end of River’s nose. “What did you see River Song?”

Before River could answer a low and steady buzz filled the room then stopped. 

“That’s an alert,” the Doctor said, stepping to Joy’s side and waving his sonic over her body. 

He frowned at the readings. “I’ve stabilized her for now but her organs are shutting down.”

River reached for her scanner and stared at the data it presented her with.

“She’s failing,” River confirmed in a sad and frustrated voice, “but why?”

 “I saw her wrapped in bandages, like a mummy.” River closed her eyes, stumbling over the words as if saying them out loud would make them too real. “Do you think she shared with me a premonition of her own death?”

“That’s … unusual,” the Doctor replied thoughtfully, “The Egyptians handled their dead in quite a unique way, there are few examples of that in other cultures outside of Earth.”

“Do you even know where we are?” River glanced at the Doctor suspiciously.

“I always know where I am, River Song!” the Doctor declared, holding up his hands and twirling on the spot.

River crossed her arms and raised a brow skeptically.

“The Entitlement of Ah-Mun,” the Doctor told her, tugging at a golden curl and watching in fascination as it sprang back against her cheek, “the 37th century after the Fall of the Unknown Republic. Tuesday.”

River rolled her eyes. “You think you’re so hot right now, don’t you?” 

“No,” the Doctor denied, circling River then leaning in and breathing into her ear, “but you do.”

River grabbed his braces and pulled him even closer, ignoring his squeak as he stumbled into her.

“What time of day?” she sighed against his lips.

“Early afternoon!” the Doctor replied with a smug expression, swallowing heavily as he peered into River’s blue-green eyes.

 “Then why is it so dark?” River asked, shoving him away and placing her hands on her hips.

The Doctor tripped and caught himself, adjusting his bow tie while looking affronted. 

“We’re close to the pole?”

River shook her head, her golden curls flying around her face. 

“I think you know the answer to that.”

The Doctor sighed. “I assume you already know why, you always do.”

River looked startled, then grinned. “Do I? Well I am good.”

“You have no idea,” the Doctor muttered, scratching the back of his head, “like to share?”

“There are a lot of conflicting archeological reports surrounding this period in Ah-Mun’s history,” River began, ignoring the snort of derision that echoed her words, “some accounts indicate that the planet’s climate rapidly changed, leaving it a cold and barren husk unable to support life. Others that this was a time of economic and social upheaval, followed by a gradual recovery.”

“So you finagled an exchange visa to investigate a temporally unstable planet at its most dangerous point in history?” The Doctor’s attempt to appear irritated at River’s recklessness failed miserably as he couldn’t hide the twitching of his lips.

“Who says you get to have all the fun?” River replied flippantly, pulling out her scanner and standing by the Doctor to share the data with him.

The Doctor swayed against her, sniffing appreciatively, eyes fluttering shut until River poked him in the side.

“Oi!” he grumbled, “I’m paying attention, I was only – hold on – what’s this?”

He grabbed the scanner from River’s hand, rapidly tapping the tiny controls and scrolling through reams of notes and calculations.

He paused, holding the screen close to his face as he watched a current news report, frowning at the words.

“Figuring out what went wrong was easy,” River nodded at the look he gave her, “it’s all over the news. The question is, how do we fix it?”

 “Why should we care?” the Doctor asked, handing back her scanner, “They created the problem themselves. The force field they’ve built around the entire planet is working admirably to deter errant missile attacks, they’ve been at peace for quite some time.”

“There’s also a malfunction in the frequency modulation that’s causing it to gradually turn opaque and block out the sun,” River pointed out.

“So?” the Doctor shrugged. “It has nothing to do with us.”

“No, this isn’t right - this isn’t what you do!” River protested, shaking her head vigorously. “Every account I’ve found of you is all about how you never stop interfering in the events of history – you at least try to save people!”

The Doctor scoffed. “Well if you want to believe history …”

“Doctor,” River said grimly, her eyes flashing, “there are 5.72 billion people on this planet and I am not going to let them all die!”

The Doctor cocked an eyebrow. “You’re not?”

River’s eyes widened at the smug smile he gave her. “I hate you.”

“No,” the Doctor replied as he gazed at her fondly, “you don’t. So, Doctor-to-be Song, what do you propose we do?”

River snorted. “Aren’t you the one who comes up with the plans?”

“Knowing you,” the Doctor answered, lifting her hand to his lips and kissing it as River glared at him, “You’ve been here for a while, worked out every possible solution, tried them all, worked out the impossible ones, and tried those too. Twice.”

“Just how well do you know me?” River asked breathlessly.

“Well enough to know that.” the Doctor replied with a grin, taking out his sonic and pointing it at Joy.

He checked the readings and frowned. “She’s getting worse.”

“Yes, I know,” River told him as he glanced up in surprise, “We may be a bit – connected.”

The Doctor rushed to catch her as she took a step towards him and collapsed, falling into his arms.

River was dimly aware of being picked up and carried, then settled gently onto a bed. She turned her head and saw Joy lying beside her, wrapped in layers of golden cloth.

She heard a voice faintly calling her name and she struggled to make sense of the sounds.

“River!” The Doctor sounded so far away. “River, tell me what you see! River – tell me!”

River strained to remember how to form words. The concept seemed foreign to her now.

 She looked at the wall behind Joy. It was no longer the dull gray metal of the med bay but something similar to quartz, glowing with a clear blue light.

“We’re on a ship,“ River whispered hoarsely, “ a crystalline structure – so beautiful.”

Joy shifted restlessly and River reached out, taking one bandaged hand in her own.  She sensed movement all around them, but she could not make out the forms.

“They’re leaving,” River breathed, “everyone is leaving – they’re leaving her here!”

River gasped with the pain of it, only partly aware of the Doctor’s increasingly desperate cries of her name.

River looked up and again a vast, roiling darkness seethed above them. She felt her hand lifting along with Joy’s as they reached together for something behind the veil. Joy opened her mouth and a strange wail seeped from her lips, a kind of chant, as if she were calling to something just beyond her reach.

“River.” Her name sounded so clear this time, so close.

River tore her eyes away from the oppressive darkness and watched entranced as a rift of golden light appeared at the foot of her bed. It was like a tear in the fabric of her vision, and a large hand was reaching through it.

“River, take my hand,” the Doctor implored.

“No!” River protested, “I won’t leave her!”

“River, listen to me,” the Doctor pleaded, “you have to trust me. We’re not going to leave her, never that, but if you stay connected you’ll both die.”

River hesitated. For the first time since it happened she found herself remembering with agonizing clarity killing this man. 

“River, please,” he begged her, “remember what I said to you, when you saved me? Let me save you this time, both of you. Please.”

River squeezed Joy’s hand for a long moment but did not let go. She reached for the Doctor, grabbing his fingers and pulling, hard. His long, gangly body came stumbling through the rift, and he landed heavily, halfway across her on the bed. He pulled back and gawked at her.

“You can’t do that!” He huffed.

“Well, I just did,” River pointed out helpfully.

He twirled, taking in their surroundings. “Ooooh crystalline walls – that is cool, River!”

He looked up, frowning at the heavy darkness above them. “That’s not.”

He lowered his head and gazed at the child wrapped in golden cloth. He reached out, placing his own hand above River’s and Joy’s so all three were joined.

“We can’t stay here, River,” he said quietly, “we can’t help her from here, we have to go back.”

“I won’t abandon her!” River cried fiercely, staring at him with wild eyes.

“I’m not asking you to,” The Doctor replied, his face etched with an unnerving sadness, “I’m asking you to trust me.”

River shivered. It was like he asked for Luna herself. Though she was pretty sure she could deliver that. This was much harder. All she had were promises whispered into her ear from the lips of a dying man. Well, and conflicting accounts of his exploits that even he laughed at. 

She could feel the potential of this moment sparking against her skin. So many possibilities stretched before her that it was overwhelming and she felt like she was drowning in vastly different destinies. Only the weight of his hand on hers anchored her in place. She closed her eyes.

When she opened them again she was lying in bed as he leaned over her, cupping her face in his hands and gazing at her with such love that it hurt to look at him. He brushed his lips over hers, only the barest touch.

“Thank you, River Song,” he whispered against her skin.

The Doctor took a step back but remained close, as if reluctant to part from her. River sat up and turned to Joy who lay quietly clutching her toy.

“She was on a ship …” River mused, “Doctor, someone told me Joy was found 3 months ago.”

“On it!” the Doctor winked at her and skipped over to a wall mounted control panel, pressing his hand to the screen.

“Analyzing …” he said thoughtfully, as he considered the data scrolling across his field of vision.

“There was a ship that came quite close to the planet around that time, well more than one, hmmm…oh, dear…” The Doctor jumped as River came up behind him and casually brushed her fingers across his lower back as she leaned in close to see the screen.

“River!” he squeaked, “I’m trying to concentrate here!”

“Sorry dear,” River murmured, patting his behind once before removing her hand, “oops.”

The Doctor took a steadying breath and adjusted his bow tie. “The data indicates there were two ships of different design, one chasing the other, ending with the one being followed blown to bits.”

 “There aren’t any news reports about it,” River commented, as she pulled out her scanner and checked it carefully.

“There wouldn’t be,” the Doctor replied, gazing at her sideways through hooded eyes, “that malfunctioning force field hides everything. They couldn’t see anything and their current technology wouldn’t have detected any other signs of alien spacecraft.”

“It’s strange though …” the Doctor mused, “one ship was definitely firing at the other but it looks like the target exploded before any sort of destructive force ever reached it.”

“They blew themselves up?” River asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Wait, this doesn’t make sense,” River continued, trailing a finger across the figures on the screen, “Doctor there’s way more energy being released here than an exploding ship would have caused.”

“I know!” The Doctor grinned at her, clapping his hands together excitedly. “Love a good thing not making sense!”

River rolled her eyes. “Well if the extra energy didn’t come from the exploding ship, where did it come from?”

“That, River Song, is a very good question.” The Doctor’s eyes were bright as he bopped her on the nose, then twirled, turning towards Joy.

River followed his gaze, looking down at the dying child.

“Doctor ...” River began, reaching out to grasp Joy’s hand and staring up at the Doctor with pained eyes, “she’s been trying so hard to tell me … to show me …”

The Doctor nodded, placing his hand over River’s and the child’s and looking at her expectantly.

“Those golden strips of cloth she was wrapped in – like a mummy – those weren’t bandages – “River’s eyes lit up with understanding, “it’s a cocoon!”

“Yes!” the Doctor exclaimed, beaming at her, “now it makes sense! She didn’t know how else to communicate with you – so utterly alien to her - so she tried to use something from your thoughts – something you were already familiar with.”

“She’s an energy being,” River breathed, smoothing her hand across the child’s forehead, “and she’s trying to break free from her – what – corporeal stage?”

“But why didn’t she transmute with the others on the ship?”

“Maybe she couldn’t?” the Doctor hypothesized, “maybe she wasn’t ready?”

“They must have transmatted her to the planet surface,” River added, “in hopes she could mature here.”

“But for some reason she hasn’t been able to,” the Doctor put in thoughtfully, “what does she need – what is she missing?”

River and the Doctor both stared at each other and opened their mouths at the same time.

“The sun!”

Joy let out a long sigh and then lapsed into silence.

River rushed to her side as the Doctor pulled out his sonic and pointed it at the child.

“She’s not breathing,” he announced grimly.

“No!” River cried, cradling Joy in her arms, “I won’t let her go!”

“River, listen,” the Doctor said, running over to the control panel, eyes scanning rapidly as information filled the screen, “there’s a weak spot in the force field over the south pole, maybe there’s still time.”

River stood, pushing the child into the Doctor’s arms and racing ahead. “You take her, I’m not letting you pilot!”

“Oi!” the Doctor huffed, as he carried Joy down the corridor, “I fly her just fine!”

He entered the console room to find River already whirling around the controls. It was beautiful to watch, each movement graceful and precise, an intricate, intuitive dance.

“I’ve placed us in the upper atmosphere just below the weak spot in the field,” River said as she threw open the doors to the TARDIS, “and extended the shield around her.”

They could see the force field stretching across the curve of the planet, opaque and oppressive. Just above them a dinner plate sized spot remained a filmy gray, allowing a weak ray of sunlight to filter through. The Doctor knelt beside RIver, clutching the child protectively to his chest with one hand and waving his sonic with the other. 

“Who came up with this thing?” he grumbled, flicking the sonic in front of his face to stare at the readings, “it’s learning – every time I try to disassemble it, it knits itself back together – cycling through random frequencies now.”

He gently lay Joy down on the floor between him and River.

“Doctor, we don’t have time for this,” River said, as she gathered Joy into her arms and stood in front of the door, “she’s almost gone – I can feel her slipping away.”

The Doctor climbed to his feet and placed his hand over River’s where she held the child to her.

River stared at him, her eyes burning with a fierce, defiant intensity.

“I have an idea,” she said, “Doctor, do you trust me?”

The Doctor nodded. “Always, River Song.”

River’s grin was wide and so luminous it glowed as she shoved the Doctor hard and he fell back and slid partway across the floor.

“River, wait!” he cried, but she ignored him, leaping through the doors and stumbling to her knees as the TARDIS shield kept her from falling. 

She staggered to her feet, positioning herself and Joy directly under the weak spot in the force field. The dim ray of filtered sunlight lit up Joy’s still face and her mouth fell open as she breathed out a ribbon of pale blue light. 

“Please let me be right,” River whispered, then she grabbed the toy and ripped it from Joy’s hand.

The resulting blast blew River back through the TARDIS doors but the Doctor was there to catch her as they both fell to the floor. They scrambled to their feet and peered out the doorway to see Joy enveloped in blue radiance. She slowly turned, her eyes opening, and a slow smile spreading across her narrow face.

“We have to get out of here!” the Doctor cried, pulling River back against him and slamming the doors shut. The TARDIS rocked as a blast of energy hit her full force, knocking her spinning across the sky. The Doctor and River were thrown against the console. The Doctor anchored himself against River’s back, sheltering her, as she reached for blue switches. They both breathed out sighs of relief as the ship stabilized.

They stood for a moment, panting heavily.

“Doctor,” River said finally, as she wriggled back against him, delighting in his answering gasp, “We’re going to have to move some time.”

“You seem to already be moving,” the Doctor answered in a strangled voice.

He swept River’s curls away from the back of her neck and dropped a soft kiss there.

“You are amazing,” he sighed into her skin, his voice filled with pride and a distinct note of longing.

He took her hand and pulled her with him, throwing open the TARDIS doors. He flopped down, his feet dangling over the edge as he tugged her down with him. They sat together, watching as dazzling energy radiated out across the force field, poking holes in the darkness. 

As the last remnants of the field faded away, the glorious blue light began to contract, until a single glowing point remained, and then it shot up through the atmosphere until it disappeared from sight.

“Do you think she will find her people?” River asked, placing her head against the Doctor’s shoulder. 

The Doctor wrapped an arm around her and buried his face in her hair.

“I think you gave her the chance to,” he replied, his voice muffled by her curls.

They sat together contentedly, watching the sun come up all over the world.


End file.
